Kingmaking in Dune
14 April 2008
Kingmaker, kingmaker, make me a king...
I'm sure that every gamer is familiar with the concept of
kingmaking, but for those who aren't - it's the position that
a player is put into when they cannot win but they can decide
who will. Boardgame discussion groups are frequently filled with
heated discussion over this topic. Do you act as the kingmaker
as part of your gaming experience, or leave the contenders alone,
effectively taking yourself out of the game? Do you simply try
to maximize your own position knowing that it will do no good,
even when you know that your actions will tip the balance in
favor of one player or another? What to do, what to do...
This weekend we had this precise situation arise. I was playing the Harkonnen and was allied with the Fremen. The Bene Gesserit player was allied with the Atreides and the Guild stood alone. The game was rapidly approaching turn 15 with no win in sight, so it was clearly going to come down to the end-of-game win condition for either the Guild or the Fremen/Harkonnen alliance. The Atreides player, having been the subject of much treachery from both the Fremen and (of course) the Harkonnen, had already unabashedly declared that he would do everything in his power to ensure that the victory went to the Guild and not the Fremen, but when a worm came up on turn 14 the Bene Gesserit player balked at the kingmaking position that he was in.
It all came down to Habbanya Ridge Sietch. The Fremen player needed
to clear the sietch of Atreides tokens to fulfill his end-of-game
win condition (Sietch Tabyr was Harkonnen-occupied, but they were
still allied with the Fremen). Habbanya Ridge Sietch was heavilly stocked with Atreides
tokens, but there was a giant stack of Fremen waiting on the False
Wall West for their Turn 15 all-out attack. Without the Voice
helping out, it looked like the Atreides just might fall to the Fremen,
and so it came down to the Bene Gesserit decision whether or not
to continue his alliance with the Atreides for the express purpose
of granting the Guild the win. The BG player struggled for a few
minutes before making the call. The alliance was renewed, the Fremen
were stuffed and the Guild got the solo win. But was it the right
choice?
I say - heck yes!
Eurogamers can bicker over the kingmaking problem until the cows come home, but those arguments don't apply to Dune. Dune is a game of political maneuvering and High Treachery. Anything goes on Arrakis, and the more treacherous your decision the better. Players who can't handle this grim reality should stick with harvesting wheat, counting peasants or playing with sheep in their non-confrontational, souped-up versions of Candyland. The Atreides player had the right idea - stick it to the faction(s) that stuck it to you. When someone steps on your face to climb to the top, bite him on the foot! Hah!
Dune games in my group have an additional reason to engage in kingmaking. We use a glory point system to recognize and reward the victors in each conflict. This system sets up a 'meta-game' which should be taken into account in any kingmaking decision and in this case it substantially contributed to the Bene Gesserit player's decision. He had to choose between giving the Guild player full points, or giving the winning-est player half points. Personally, I think the only mistake he made was in not rubbing his hands together and laughing an evil little laugh as he pondered his options...
...but that's just me.